Automatic adjustable arch construction.



PATENTED MAY 5, 1908.

. W. M. THOMAS. v AUTOMATIC. ADJUSTABLE-ARCH consmnonon.

" APPLICATION YILED JULY 5, 1907.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

} PATENTED MAY 5, 1908.

W. M-THOMAST I AYPLIOATIO'N FILED JULY 5. 1907. I

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

AUTOMATIC ADJUSTABLE ARCH CONSTRUCTION.

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. w. M. THOMAS. H

AUTOMATIC ADJUSTABLE ARCH CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION TILED JULY 5. 1907,

PATENTEDMAYB, 1908.

3 sums-SHEET s1 on ITED 'bTAT ES PATENT oFFroE.

WILLIAM M. THOMAS, or SANTA onuz, CALIFORNIA.

AUTOMATIC ADJUSTABLE ARCH CONSTRUCTIQN..

No. access.

Applicationfiletf July 5, 1907. Serial No. 382,280.

To all whom it may concern:

Be 1t known that I, WILLIAM M. THOMAS a a citizen of the United Statesof America, re-

.ments in Automatic Adjustable Arch Con-' siding at city of Santa Cruz; in the county of 'Santa Cruz and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvestruction, of which the following is a full,

clear, and. exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification. a 1

My invention relates to a newand useful improvement in automatic adjustable arch construction for bridges, tunnels, etc., and

fective and inexpensive structure which will adequately support a super-structure and in addition thereto a pre-determined maximum load, and will permit of the crown of the so arch rising or falling, due to expansion and contraction or to excessive loads or stresses,

- with no detrimental results to the arch. v

Another object of my. invention is to con-' struct an arch or a number ot arches of braced concrete, composedoi two or more segments, preferably two, which can be manufactured at the site-of the work or at.

. any distant point and trans ortedand set in expensive and laborious work 'of erecting suitablemanner.

place on the skewbacks' by t e use of a crane, oistsor thelike, thus eliminating the very supporting forms, or molds for the arch rings, were they built up in the construction of the arch as: an entirety. .I ropose to erect bridges and other structures yfirstbuilding up the foundations 'toa'pro er height .to-

form skewbacks, 'mouiit soc ets' thereinf the balance of the skewba'cks to a pro )er ieight, mount towers onsaid skew-.

ac s, and support by said towers, cables, etc. for conveying segmental arch sections build u into such position that one of the partly cylindrical or segmental. ends of each section may be placed in'the segmental sockets in the skewbacks and their innerinost or crown ends brought toward each other until they abut a and form the crown of the arch, after which their segmental parallel arch sections are bound together by transverse partition walls as will hereinafter be more fully described. The su er-structure is'then placed u on'and secure to the arch frame thus forme ,in any Specification of Letters Patent.

skewback, illustrating a slig construction of arch receiving socket.

has forits object primarily to produce an'ef Patented May 5, 1908.

Figure I is a vertical longitudinal section of a portion of abridge having an abutment arch and skewback, embodied in my invention, the view also illustrating the manner 1n which the arch is put'in place. Fig. II is aplan View of the arch construction and a through a portion of the skewback and one of the arch segments and a portion of a mating segment shown partly in side elevation and partly in section. Fig. VI is in art a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. and in part a lo itudinal section taken on the line. VIVI,. ig. V. Fig. VII is a vertical transverse section taken. on lineVIIVII;

- Fig. VI. Fig. VIII is an enlar ed vertical section taken on .line VIIIV II, Fig. V. Fig. IX is a detail section of the crown of the arch, or themeeting point of. the segments forming the arch, illustrating one'method of construction of these parts. X is a vertical'transverse section of atunnelconstruction wherein my invention is employed. Fig.

X1 is a top plan view ofthe arch construc tion of the structure illustrated in Fig. X. Fig. XII is a detail perspective view partly broken away of one of the laggings or vous- 'soirs employed in forming a roof for the arch construction. Fig. XIII is a vertical section ofa modification of the bea between the skewback and arch section. ig.'XIV is a section on line-XIVXIV fg'fi XIII.

In the drawings, I representsfa masonry pier or abutment which acts as a skewback for one side of the arch, and 2 another masonry pier which forms. a skewback for .the other side of the arch.v Each of these provided with a segmental skewbacks is socket 3.

4 designates segmental arch sections, each of which is provided with a partly cylindrical or segmental end designed to fit in the segmental sockets 3 of the skewbacks' to form a knuckle joint. The innermost. end of each of these segmental arch sections-is pro- .vided with'a flanged segmental gear or rack 5: is'designed to mesh one with the,

other in such manner as to support the seg- 4 mental arch sections in proper position.

ofa cast metalblock 6 (se e Fig. III) or for lighter constructions, this socket may be formed of sheet metal as is illustrated at 7 in Fig. IV. Another method of forming this socket is illustrated in Figs. V and VIII of the drawings wherein it will be notedthat the same provides for an anti-frictional socket and consists of a casting or castings 8 and 9 of metal, having ball or roller races formed therein and in which balls or rollers are located, said balls or rollers cooperating with complementary ball or roller races formed on the partly cylindrical or segmental end of the segmental arch sections 4. The segmental gear or rack 5, which as before stated is secured to the innermost or crown end of thesegmental arch section, may be formed of a casting as is illustrated in Fig. V or may be provided with a plurality of perforations through which bolts 10 pass, said bolts being provided with enlarged heads 11 which act as gear teeth as is clearly illustrated in Fig. IX of the drawing.

The arch sections 4 are formed principally of concrete, reinforced by longitudinal rods 12 transverse bars 13' and dia onal truss rods 1 14, the transverse bars 13 eing provided with perforations for the passage of the rods 12 and 14, thereby causing them to act as distance pieces for the former and king posts for the latter. There are two assemblies of .the rods 12 and 14 and the bars 13, one ar ranged close to the extrados and the other close to the intrados of thearch to stiffen the same laterally. The bars13 beingof sufficient length to extend some distance beyond the finished concrete sides of the arch segments, Said extensions are provided with perforations 15 which receive the ends of diagonal cross brace rods 16 which tie one .12 and 1-4 whereby a skeleton framework is formed for preserving the integrity of the segmental arch sections.

After all of the segmental arch sections are placed in position in their sockets, the crown of the arch is formed by the abutment of the segmental gears, and the diagonal brace rods 16 are secured in place between the segments,

concrete division or tiewalls 19- are, formed between the parallel segmental arch sections, and arranged to encompass or surround said rods 1'6. These walls 19' are formed by arranging suitable temporary molds or forms on, or around the arch rings and in juxtaposition to the rods 16 and filling the concrete thereinto. The partition walls 19 also have embedded thereinupwardly extending rods 20, which are employed. to tie the superstructure (not shown) of the bridge to the arch. Alining holes are formed transversely in all the segmental arch sections and through these holes through rods or bolts 21 are passed, said rods or bolts being provided upon their ends with washers and nuts 22 in order that the entire assembly of parallel segmental arch sections can be firmly drawn together.

By the construction of an arch as above described it will be apparent that the arch as an entirety is yielding at its crown so that when expansion and contraction of the arch takes place, or when the arch is depressed by an excessive load, the segmental arch sections are permitted to partly rotate in the sockets in the skewbacks due to the interlocking segmental gear construction of the arch sections at their crowns. y

In eonstructii'ig a bridge such as is illustrated in Figs. I and'II of the drawings, the abutment at the end of a span of arches is preferably formed of reinforced concrete, and made as follows: I first lay a thick concrete foundation, reinforcing the upper and lower sides thereof referably with diagonally ar ranged rods 0 metal so arranged as to form a sort of lattice work, then build upwards therefrom marginal anddntermediate walls of concrete which may also be braced similarly to the foundation, fill in the compartments formed by these vertical walls with sand, rocks, etc. then thereover form a hori zontal layer of concrete also braced with metal rods, and continue to build up the abutment to the required height by vertical and horizontal walls until a sufliciently heavy structure is produced to adequately support the loads or stresses to be imposed upon the bridge,

In Figs. X to XII inclusive, I have shown a modified form of the invention wherein thefollows: I first excavate the rock, dirt, etc.'

to form the tunnel proper, then set metal sockets in pl ace in the skew backs, then arrange the segmental arch sections 24 in place and then place over the assembled arches, lagging blocks 25 which form voussoirs of the arch, which lagging or voussoirsare preferably so arranged as to extend from the center of one arch ring to the center of voussoirs which are preferably formed of concrete, with plain metal rods and 26 that strengthen these blocks and prevent breakage of the same in handling.

In Figs. XIII and XIV I-have shown a slightly modified form of anti frictional bearing between the skewback and the arch sec-' comprising segmental sections having 'seg-.

mental ends fitting in the segmental sockets and flanged meshing segmental gears, sub-- stantially as set forth.

2.. In a structure of the character described, the combination with a pair of skew backs having segmental sockets therein, antifriction rollers in said segmental sockets, and an arch comprising segmental sections having segmental ends supported by said anti-friction rollers, and meshmg'segmental gears,-

whereby said arch is permitted to rise and fall under abnormal conditions, substantially as set forth.

3. In a structure of the character described, the combination with a pair of skewbacks having sockets therein, anti-frictional devices arranged in said sockets, an arch comprising seginental sections supported by said anti-frictional devices and flanged meshingsegmental racks carried by said segmental arch sections and meshing with each other, wherebi the arch is permitted to freely rise and fal under abnormal conditions, substantially as set forth.

' 4. In astructure of the character described, a segmental arch section of composition material, a metallic partly cylindrical body arranged at one end of the section and ametallic member provided with gear teeth arranged at the other end thereof, substantially as set fort 1.

5. In a structure of the character described, a segmental arch section of composition mat'erial, brace rods arranged longitudinally thereof, a metallic partly cylindrical body arranged at one end of the section and gear teeth arranged at the other endthereof, substantially as set forth.

dos thereof, a partly cylindrical metallic body arranged on one end ofsaid segmental arch section and gear teeth arranged on the other end of said segmental arch section, substantially as set forth. 7. In a structure of the character described,

a segmental arch section of composition ma-,

terial, longitudinal brace rods arranged in said arch section, transverse bars arranged in said arch section and through which said longitudinal rods pass, a metallic partly cylindrical body located at one end of said arch section, and gear teeth located at the other end of said arch section, substantially as set forth.

8. Inastructure of the character described, a segmental arch section of composition material, longitudinal brace rods and transverse bars, through which said longitudinal brace rods pass arranged near the extrados of said arch section, longitudinal brace rods and transverse bars, through which said lon itudinal brace rods pass arranged near t e intrados of said arch section, a partly cylin drical metallic body at one end of said arch section, and gear teeth formed at the other end ofsaid arch section, substantially as set forth. 9, In an arch the combination with supports, of a plurality of segmental arch sections which rest upon said supports to form an arch proper, a plurality of these arches proper arranged parallel to each other, tie bars connecting these parallel arches proper, one end of each of these segmental arches being formed partly cylindrical and designed to rest upon said supports and gear teethformed on the crown end of said segmental arch sections for the purpose specified, substantially as set forth. 1 0. In an arch the combination with supports, of a'plurality of segmental arch sections which rest upon said supports to form one arch proper, a plurality of these arches proper arranged, parallel to each other, tie

said segmental arch sections for the purpose specified.

11. In an arch the combination with supports, of a plurality of segmentalarch sections arranged to form an arch proper and designed to rest upon said supports, a plurality of parallel arch sections proper, each segmental arch section having longitudinally disposed brace rods and transversely arch sections and provided with perforations i sup orts, and gear teeth at the crown end of to receive tie bars'for connecting one seg -sai segmental arch sections for the purpose -10 mental arch section to the nextparallel segspecified. I

mental arch section partition or division 5 .5 Walls between s'aidparallel segmental arches WILLIAM THUMAS' and surrounding said tie bars, one end of each In the presence ofof these segmental arch sections being partly W. P. NETHERTON, cylindrical and designed to rest upon said 1 EVA ML WHINERY. 

